William Albright
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William Albright (October 20, 1944–September 17, 1998) was an American composer, pianist and organist.
Albright was born in Gary, Indiana, and began learning the piano at the age of five, and attended the Juilliard Preparatory Department (1959-62), the Eastman School of Music (1962-63) and the University of Michigan (1962-70), where he studied composition with Ross Lee Finney and George Rochberg, and organ with Marilyn Mason. He interrupted his studies for the 1968–69 academic year when he received a Fulbright scholarship to study with Olivier Messiaen in Paris. Upon his graduation in 1970 he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he taught until his death from liver failure in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1998 (Griffiths 1998).
His music combined elements of tonal and non-tonal classical music (in particular the influence of Messiaen) with American popular music and non-Western music (Gillespie 2001), in what has been described as “polystylistic” or “quaquaversal” music (Chambers 1999, 32)—which makes the definition of an overall style difficult (Perone 1988, abstract). In particular, he was an enthusiast for ragtime (Bassett 1999, 28–29), and was “a principal figure with William Bolcom in the revival of interest in Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb and other ragtime composers from the turn of the century.”[1]
Albright was born in Gary, Indiana, and began learning the piano at the age of five, and attended the Juilliard Preparatory Department (1959-62), the Eastman School of Music (1962-63) and the University of Michigan (1962-70), where he studied composition with Ross Lee Finney and George Rochberg, and organ with Marilyn Mason. He interrupted his studies for the 1968–69 academic year when he received a Fulbright scholarship to study with Olivier Messiaen in Paris. Upon his graduation in 1970 he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he taught until his death from liver failure in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1998 (Griffiths 1998).
His music combined elements of tonal and non-tonal classical music (in particular the influence of Messiaen) with American popular music and non-Western music (Gillespie 2001), in what has been described as “polystylistic” or “quaquaversal” music (Chambers 1999, 32)—which makes the definition of an overall style difficult (Perone 1988, abstract). In particular, he was an enthusiast for ragtime (Bassett 1999, 28–29), and was “a principal figure with William Bolcom in the revival of interest in Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb and other ragtime composers from the turn of the century.”[1]
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